The People in Rossford

[ChrisGibson]

I can see Claire having one hell of a reaction, but who do you think will be supportive?

 

[CharmedFan28]

I think Radha will be supportive but I am not sure about who else.

 

[ChrisGibson]

I think... i'm just seeing this comment, and it's time to post more Rossford.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
TEN

MIXING IT UP WITH ME CONCLUDED

The light was grey and Brian squinted in it. He climbed out of bed, and then went to pull the dark curtains over the insufficient blinds. He padded down the hall to the restroom, and when he’d come back, he lay on the edge of the bed for a bit, looking at Chad, curled under the covers. In his sleep, the boy pulled the comforter high over himself. Brian thought of kissing him, but he didn’t want to wake him. He wrote a note:

GONE FOR A FEW MINUTES. WILL BE BACK,
BRY


BRIAN TURNED AROUND WITH a start.
“No, don’t mind me,” Keith Mc.Donald said. “I was just coming to set up for the A.M. Mass.”
Brian crossed himself and rose from the little niche, red lit with votives under the Virgin.
“I was finished anyway. I was just…”
“Praying,” Keith said. He was holding two brass candlesticks in his hands. He smiled. “It’s alright to say it. It’s what folks come in here to do.”
Keith put down the candlesticks and sat in the chair by the entrance to the grotto.
“You look like someone who needs to talk.” Keith held his hands up and added, “No pressure, of course.”
Brian laughed quietly and shook his head.
“Well, I guess only someone who needs to talk would show up to church at six-thirty in the morning on a weekday.”
“That,” Keith lifted a finger, “is an excellent point.”
“Talking to God,” Brian said. “Or maybe about God…I… It has been a very long time since I prayed, and I don’t even know if I know how to. All I say is… please… please.” He shrugged. “And then it all unravels.
“Maybe God is saying, serves you right for thinking of me only when you’re in trouble. Now I’m not going to be there.”
“God isn’t like that,” Keith said.
“No?” Brian smiled. “I wonder. I mean, I think he is. Why shouldn’t he be? If you stay away from God a long time, why shouldn’t it take a long time for him to get back to you?”
“In seminary,” Keith spoke after a moment. “We were taught that if you turned to God he would always take you back. Right away.”
“But were you ever taught how to pray? Once you’d forgotten how to? How to listen to God if you’d never really tried.” Brian stretched and muttered in the direction of the red lights under Mary, “And I never tried. Not really. Probably afraid. I am afraid. Of everything.”
Keith sat down and, gesturing with his candlestick he said, “I bet that’s true, Brian. But I bet it was true yesterday. And you’re here now.”
“Yes,” Brian said. “I’m here. Right now.”
“Have you ever—?” And then Brian said: “Never mind.”
“Well, you can’t just start with that and then say never mind,” Keith slapped his thigh.
“All right,” Brian nodded.
“I’m just… Well, I don’t know how to say this. I was going to ask if you’d ever been in love. But that’s not my business.”
“Don’t let the collar fool you,” Keith tapped the white band. “I am no stranger to being in love.”
“Well, I am,” Brian sat down now. “It crept up on me. I didn’t expect to be in love and now—see—I have a tendency to hurt people.”
“Maybe you think you’re more harmful than you really are.”
“No,” Brian shook his head. “That’s not possible. I know exactly how harmful I am. Or can be. And I do not want to hurt another person. Especially not this one. I want to be very careful of… them.”
“Of him?” Keith said.
Brian looked at him.
Keith said, “I’m sorry. That’s not my business. I shouldn’t have—”
“Of him,” Brian said, nodding. “I don’t ever want to hurt this person—this—him.”
Brian gave an awkward smile and clapped his hands together.
“So… what is a priest’s advice about this?”
“My advice,” Keith pressed his lips together, “the advice of this particular priest?
“Love is never wrong. But it is…. Rare. Especially mutual love. I think if you’re always careful of each other, and always loving, you shouldn’t worry too much.”
Brian wanted to say: “But he’s so much younger than me!” He wanted to say, “But I got seduced and I shouldn’t have, and what we’re doing is so…not protocol.”
He said none of these things.
Instead he said: “But it’s in my nature to screw things up.”
“I don’t believe its in anyone’s nature to screw things up,” Keith said. “I think we do it out of fear. And out of ignorance. But you already know what you can do.
“Can I ask you a question. Brian?”
“Yes.”
“You keep saying,” Keith said, taking up the candlesticks again, “that you’re so harmful, that you hurt people. Have you ever really damaged anyone before?”
“Yes,” Brian said, wondering if Keith doubted him, doubted his ability to wreak havoc.
But, instead, Keith nodded. He said.
“Well, once you’ve really done it in a big way you’ll know just how horrible it is. I don’t think you’d anymore go back to your old ways than you would touch a red hot stove."

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was a nice chat between Brian and Keith. Great writing! I hope Brian doesn't screw it up with Chad. Thanks for posting so often once again and I look forward to more!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Well, you know, if there's not messing up, there's no story. Let's just hope Brian doesn't mess it up anytime soon. I'm glad you enjoyed. There will be more tomorrow night. Cheers!

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

THE MARVEL OF MY LIFE


When Todd got to Germany everyone looked like Fenn.
That was, of course, an exaggeration. But he had assumed that everyone in Germany had blond hair. Blue eyes. Was it possible there could be this many Black people, that out of the corner of his eye, they could all remind him of Fenn?
One night, in a bar, he caught the eye of some dark boy in glasses who was, in turn, catching his eye. He didn’t really look like Fenn at all. He was, honestly, younger and thinner and prettier and yet, not as beautiful. If that made any sense. Not alive like Fenn.
“What canna I do for you, officer?” the boy said in an accent Todd couldn’t place.

“I think that since you are young and virile, and I am, still somewhat young and virile, until you come back we shouldn’t even talk about fidelity. I mean, fidelity in the bedroom.”
“Hum?”
Whaddo you mean, hum?” Fenn said. “I mean, we’re both used to sleeping with who we want to. If you’re off in Germany then why should I ask you not to sleep with, or stand with or, whatever with anyone else? And why should I pretend to be a monk for a year? Or for two. No, do what you like, and I’ll do what I like, and we just won’t tell each other.”
Fenn lay on his back but Todd said, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“I can be faithful. I can wait.”
“Look,” Fenn said. “I don’t equate celibacy with faithfulness or sex with betrayal. Tom betrayed me when he sneaked around and lied, not when he had sex.”
“Well…” Todd folded his hands behind his back. “If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure,” Fenn told him, running a hand over his side. “But when you get back, you’re mine.”





The sounds of desire and creaking wood came from beyond a door

“Oh, God—That’s right! That’s right!”
“That’s it…” the foreign accent, high pitched in excitement, “That’s eet!”

A few minutes after the meeting in the bar, past the door, and in a dark room, the boy was bent on all fours, and Todd, his fatigues down around his ankles, was plowing him with all his might...


TODD MERADAN HAD LEFT for Germany three weeks previous. One letter, vague enough, had come from him. To his credit, Todd had not said anything about coming to visit. He had said, “I miss you.” And even though it was written down, Fenn heard it in a Todd way, not overly emotional, merely a statement of fact.
Tom came over and said: “Remember when this was going to be our house?”
“Do you think about it?”
“I think about it a lot.”
“How would I know?” said Fenn. “I never see you.”
“How could you see me? You never talk to me.”
Fenn looked at him.
“There’s a reason I should?”
“No,” Tom admitted. “Still. It’s been two years.”
Fenn nodded. “And you think pain had a time limit.”
“I think,” Tom said, “your pain had a very short time limit.”
Fenn had given out all his sharp stares for the day, so he simply turned around and headed toward the kitchen, which was the closest thing he could think of to an invitation for Tom to leave.
“I’m just saying,” Tom followed him anyway, “for someone who was so hurt over what I did, you got over your betrayal pretty damned quick.”
Fenn started to laugh. At first he was trying to make himself laugh, trying to pretend he was amused. But soon it turned into a real laugh, and Tom stood crooked mouth, looking at Fenn.
“You…” Fenn began, “are angry because… I wasn’t hurt enough by your sleeping with Brian?”
“You were supposed to want to make it work!” Tom declared. “We were supposed to make it work. Get over it. Come through it. We were supposed to survive. You were supposed… to care.”
As Fenn’s laughter died, and he sat down in the kitchen looking at his ex, Tom concluded: “And we didn’t. And you don’t.”
It was early summer then. The house fusty and in need of a fan or a wall air conditioner. The stuffy heat made the silence thicker.
“Tom,” Fenn said, “you’re right.”
Tom blinked, surprised by Fenn’s agreement.
“I… haven’t wanted to even look at you. I put you away,” Fenn said. “I dealt with pain by not dealing with it.”
“I miss you,” Tom said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “I’ve missed you for two years.”
“I miss you too,” Fenn said, faintly.
Then he said: “Maybe we can be something new to each other. Not the old thing. But the new.”

That was the summer they decided to open the theatre. They played with the idea then, and the letter came from Todd once a week and once a week he wrote back.
“I’ve always wanted a theatre,” Tom said. “But we’re going to need an acting troupe.”
“I can act.”
“I know you can. I remember when you were in New York. You should have stayed.”
“New York isn’t Rossford,” Fenn said.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
Fenn shook his head and smiled.
“Sometimes it is.”
Fenn had decided, one Friday, after he finished eating that what the kitchen needed was a mattress, that the old mattress in the shed could be brought out. It made sense that the first thing to do after eating a big meal was to collapse on a mattress and sleep. And so it remained. And so Tom and he sat on it.
Tom looked at him.
“Can I kiss you?”
“I… Tom, I don’t want us to be a couple anymore.”
“I didn’t say ‘Can we be a couple?’ I said, ‘Can I kiss you?’”
When Fenn said nothing Tom took his hand. “I’m not the last person you slept with. What’s wrong with us sleeping together?”
“We…”
Tom kissed him.
“Just friends,” Tom said, kissing him again. “Who have nothing to hide.”
Tom pressed his mouth to Fenn’s, and Fenn’s arms fell. He lowered himself under Tom and heard the birds and the crickets outside.
“Just friends,” Tom murmured, kissing him, unbuckling his belt, “who have nothing to hide.”

Tom came up from the bed. He and Fenn sat on the edge of it, wrapped in one comforter. That was when Fenn told him about Todd.
“But Todd’s not here,” Tom said, kissing Fenn quickly. “And he won’t be. Not for a while.”
They kissed for a long while, clinging to each others shoulders. and Tom said, “It feels so good not to hold back from each other. Not to have the old…”
“Strife?”
“Strife is a good word.
“Look,” Tom said, folding his legs under himself. “I love you, but I can let you go. I’m not going to try to steal you from Todd. But he’s gone and I’m here, so I’m going to keep sleeping with you. If you don’t mind.”
“If I don’t mind,” Fenn grinned. He lay on his back and stretched out his hand, touching Tom’s back, going all the way to the small.
“Ten years, drunk on your body, Tommy, and then cutting it off cold turkey. Pretending I didn’t still want you, didn’t miss us in bed… Didn’t miss us period. No… No, I don’t mind. But I don’t want to be your husband again.”
Dark hair in his face, Tom turned around and with a boyish look Fenn hadn’t seen in a long time. “Then we can be like French people?”
“What?’
“And be lovers.”
“We can be friends,” Fenn said, “who used to be a couple, and love each other. And therefore sleep together.”
Tom thought about this, raised an eyebrow, and then collapsing on the mattress beside Fenn said, “Good enough.”


“WE NEED TO help Danasia,” Noah declared.
When Fenn and Lee looked at him, he said, “Actually, you have to help Danasia.”
“Noah…” Fenn began.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lee concluded.
In the middle of the table was a large menorah, and Fenn was in the middle of polishing it with Brass-o and an old washcloth.
“Well, it’s like this: Danny’s in a bit of trouble.”
“We gathered that,” Fenn said.
“But she was always in trouble,” Lee said. “And she didn’t want to talk about it. So…” he shrugged. “I respected it.”
“Well, you can’t respect it,” Noah said, firmly.
Both Fenn and Lee raised their eyebrows.
“Look,” Lee said. “I’m glad the two of you have taken a shine to each other. God knows the two of you are both strange enough. But… I can’t help you if you don’t tell me how much trouble my child is in.”
“It’s like… a hundred fifty thousand dollars worth of trouble.”
Fenn and Lee, pulling their jaws off of the floor, looked at each other slowly. And then they turned to Noah.
“Mr, Riley,” Lee said, taking out his cigarette roller and opening his can of tobacco. “You need to start talking. Right now.”

More on Thursday

 

[CharmedFan28]

I like reading about Todd and Fenn's past. Very interesting and great writing! That ending though! I can't wait to read what happens next with Danasia's situation.

 

[ChrisGibson]

I love going back to the Todd and Fenn parts too. What do you like about them? I especially enjoy bringing it back to the present so now we're like... what's Danasia going to do? More Thursday night.

 

[CharmedFan28]

I love going back to the Todd and Fenn parts too. What do you like about them? I especially enjoy bringing it back to the present so now we're like... what's Danasia going to do? More Thursday night.

I like how much Todd and Fenn love each other but are realistic about their time apart.

 

[ChrisGibson]

I like that a lot too, and I also like how its all in the past, so they have a more or less stable relationship while all the other ones are still forming. More tonight!

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

THE MARVEL OF MY LIFE CONTINUED

“Goddamn!” Fenn said when Noah was finished.
Lee, shaking his head, repeated: “Goddamn is right.”
“A hundred fifty-thousand… a hundred…”
“And I know,” Noah said, “that that’s a lot. I know that you might be through all of that money by now. But I told Danny you might be able to help. I mean… If there is any of that money left...”
At the look on their faces, Noah said: “What? Is it all gone? The money’s all gone?”
Their faces were still blank and Noah said, “Guys…?”
Lee looked to Fenn and Fenn, with lowered eyebrows and fingers white with Brass-o muttered: “Tell him.” And then he looked up at Noah and said: “And you tell no one else.”
“Tell no one else what?”
“Brian got into Joe Callan’s bank account,” Lee reported.
“And?” Noah looked hopeful.
“There is enough to cover Danny’s troubles several times over,” Fenn said. “But goddamn, that’s a lot of trouble.”
Lee nodded, seriously.
“Still, she’s your daughter.”
“Well, it’ll come out of Tom’s and my share.”
“It sure in the fuck will,” Fenn muttered.
Noah looked at them curiously.
“Stop that,” Fenn said, slightly irritatated. “You look like the RCA dog.”
“How much…. Money do you have?” Noah said.
Lee looked nervous about answering, but Fenn said, “He’s family now. We gotta tell him. Maybe we should have told you before, but we forgot.”
“That is true,” Lee said. “Brian opened the account up, and at the time… you weren’t really around.”
“Brian knows then?”
“Oh, yeah.’
“Brain knows.”
“Oh, stop,” Fenn said. “He was the first to know.”
“Well….” Noah waited, “are you all going to tell me?”
“At least three million dollars.”
“What?”
“I said,” Fenn said slowly, “AT LEAST… THREE…. MILLION…. DOLLARS.”
“Goddamn,” Noah swore.
“Language, language,” Lee said, lowering his eyes and inhaling his cigarette.
“Damn,” Noah corrected himself. “That really will cover Danny.”


“There is a party tonight,” Radha announced at the dinner table. “And everyone is invited unless—” she turned to look sharply in Chad’s direction, but Jesse murmured: “Radha!”
“Unless anyone has anything else to do,” she finished quickly and sat down, smoothing her black hair back.
“I don’t think anyone has anything to do,” Chad announced, cheerfully. “In fact, I think from now on we should all be a lot freer to hang out. Those of us who have been… sort of closed up… Well, I predict they won’t be like that anymore.”
They all looked at him.
Chad said, unnecessarily, “I meant me. I meant…I’m…” he concluded lamely, with a small smile, “Free.”
“Well, good,” Julian said, filling in the silence. “Does that mean you’re free to go on a liquor run for us?”
“You did just turn legal,” Jesse said.
“What about you?” Chad said.
“I won’t be twenty-one till February.”
“Yeah, I’ll go,” Chad said. “When?”
“Uh, like now!” Claire said. “I’ll pose as your girlfriend again.”
Chad chuckled and said, “That won’t be necessary.”
“But it’ll be fun!”
“Maybe you can take Julian along with you and say you’re swingers?” Jesse suggested.
“You are so filthy,” said his sister.
Jesse said: “Thank you.”

Back in the dorm, when they were getting their coats, Chad cleared his throat and said: Jess?”
“Hum.”
“I need to say this quick. Cause I’m gonna say it a lot, and I need to get used to it.”
“All right. Out with it.”
Chad nodded, but thought that it was harder to be out with it than he had thought. Then he said:
“I’ve been seeing someone. That’s why I’m secretive. A lot.”
When Jesse looked at him, he elaborated: “Well, I guess I’m secretive a lot about a lot, but this time around… I’m seeing someone.”
“In town?”
“Um hum.”
“Her name?” Jesse said, feeling stupid already, feeling like he wasn’t making this easier.
“His name,” Chad said.
“Oh,” Jesse said, wondering if he should feign shock.
But Chad said, as he stuffed his arms into his parka sleeves: “You’re not really surprised. Are you?”
“Uh…Not much surprises me these days.” Then he said:
“Can you tell me about him?”
“No,” Chad said. “And it’s not because I don’t want to,” he went on hurriedly.
“Look,” Jesse said, “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
“It’s just… It’s just that we’re about to go off on vacation, and I was thinking you guys are the first real friends I’ve had, and I want to be honest. But if I’m too honest I could hurt someone else. You know? So… I can’t tell you all everything. But… You’re the first. I want to tell the rest of you guys. Okay?”
Jesse nodded.
As he headed out of the dorm room ahead of his friend he said, “This is going to be an interesting night.”


“Is it wrong if we tell him that’s not exactly a revelation?” Julian wondered taking a swig of his beer after Chad got up and went to the bathroom.
“I bet it is if you say it like that,” Jesse said as he finished rolling his joint. “Anyone want some of this?”
“Good God,” Claire said. “I’m just a country girl from East Carmel.”
“Country girls from East Carmel should know all about that,” Julian said.
Claire shook her head and Jesse said, “You, Jules?”
“Not tonight,” Julian said.
Jesse shrugged, pulling his lighter out of his pocket. “You guys have to live a little.” He inhaled.
“Between you and Chad there is enough living,” Claire said. “Not exactly a revelation…” She mocked Julian. “Not a revelation at all.
“In fact what would be a revelation is if Chad said he was straight. That…” Claire sipped from her beer.
“That would be a fucking miracle,” Radha concluded. “Hey, hey, Jess, don’t be greedy with the weedy. Give you’re little sis a little puff.”
“You get,” Jesse said, handing her the joint, “a very little puff.”
“Puff, puff,” Radha said, taking a hit. Then: “Goddamn, this is the good shit! Here, you take this.”
Chad came back into the room, locking the door.
“God, guys,” he said, smelling the weed.
“It’s just Jess doing it,” Radha said, exhaling white smoke.
Jesse offered Chad the joint.
“You know I don’t do that,” he said, sitting down taking out his juice bottle.
“Chad, Chad, butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth,” Radha said. She flicked his juice bottle. “Are you really this wholesome?”
“No,” Chad said, slowly. “Not really. Not at all.” He had that sleepy quiet smile that Claire liked. “I’ve got some stories that would turn your head.”
“I bet you do,” Claire said.
“Are you going to tell them tonight?” Radha asked.
Chad rolled his eyes and lifted the juice bottle to his mouth, swallowing.
As he put it down he said: “Nope.”

They all went onto the lawn outside of King’s Hall. The moon shone on the crisp new snow so it was blue white and they could see each others breaths.
“Why didn’t I wear a coat?” Claire wondered.
“Cause white people have no sense,” Julian told her. They walked in a line to Chad’s car. He was in his coat and gloves, a knit cap pulled over his ears. After they’d all said goodbye, Radha surprised them by saying. “Go away guys, I want to talk to Chad alone.”
“I think she’s in love with you,” Jesse said, jokingly, shook Chad by the shoulders, and lead everyone else back to King’s Hall.
Radha stood beside Chad, and Chad shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting for her to speak.
The first thing she said was, “I’m not in love you.”
“No… I didn’t think so.”
“The semester is over,” she declared. “And I won’t see you until next year.”
“You make it seem a long way off,” Chad told her. “It’s not.”
Tomorrow morning she and Jesse were driving back to Chicago and, of course, Claire and Julian would just go back into town.
“I know I razz you a little,” Radha began.
“A little?”
“Okay, a lot. But… I like you, Chad.”
“And I like you too,” he said. “I would have never told you what I told you if I didn’t.”
“I think we’re going to be good friends.”
“Yes,” Chad said.
“See,”
“See what?”
“You’re so quiet,” Radha said. “And all of my stuff is so out loud. That’s why we’ll make good friends. They say still waters run deep.”
“I think they’re wrong,” Chad said with a grimace that turned into a grin. “I think I’m just not used to having friends.”
“Well, I’ll help you with that,” Radha’s nose was red, and her voice clogged from the cold.
“You better go inside,” Chad rounded the car.
“Just one question?”
“Huh?”
“Are you going home, or are you going to see your guy?”
Chad went red in the cold, and his sigh was a cloud of white mist.
“It’s one in the morning, Radha. Whaddo you think?”
He opened the car door and said, “Merry Christmas.”
“You know I’m Hindu.”
“And I’m agnostic, but I still have to go to church, and I bet you celebrate Christmas too.”
Radha shrugged and said, “Yeah, but we call it Devali Number Two.”
And then she turned around and headed back for King’s Hall.

More Saturday Night

 

[CharmedFan28]

Great new section! Hopefully Danasia can be helped with her debt. I am glad Chad is being more open with his friends. I look forward to more on the weekend!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Glad you enjoyed. More soon.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

THE MARVEL OF MY LIFE CONTINUED


On Christmas Eve morning it was about fifty degrees and the snow was melting, which was just how Fenn liked it. Todd was about to go to the store and pick up the last things for dinner, which was just how he liked it, and leave him some free time. At the moment Todd tramped all about the house singing:

“Rock of Ages let our song,
Praise thy saving power;
Thou amidst the raging foes,
Wast our shelt'ring tower.”

In the living room window, where the Christmas tree usually was, the menorah sat on a table, burning and bound to confuse anyone too curious, as there was a Christmas tree in the side window that looked onto the stretch of land they shared with the Barnards next door.

“Furious they assailed us,
But Thine arm availed us,
And Thy word broke their sword,
When our own strength failed us.
And Thy word broke their sword,
When our own strength failed us.”

At first Fenn didn’t hear the knock at the door, but then he looked and was mildly startled from wrapping presents when he saw a woman on the other side of the curtain not his mother, not his sister, not his grandmother. Not even Black. He stood up to answer it and a harassed, curly haired woman said:
“Is this Tom Mesda’s house?”
“This was never Tom Mesda’s house,” Fenn said.
She carried a baby in her arms and looked perplexed.
“I thought it was,” she said as the baby began a little whine.
“Tom lives on Terrace Court.”
“So you do know him?”
“Yes,” Fenn said. He thought about telling her more, but then thought against it.
The baby moaned and made a squeaking noise.
“That’s…” the woman rocked the baby a little franticly. “That’s enough, honey. That’s enough. Just… calm down, already!”
He had seen parents lacking in parental skills before, but Fenn thought he should ask: “Is that your baby.”
“No,” she said. Then. “But it is. But… it shouldn’t be.”
“Ma’am…”
“Thank you,” she said, rocking the whiny baby. “I have to go,” she said, and left. Fenn watched her manage opening the car door, and holding a baby. He made sure that she was doing something that, at a distance at least, looked like strapping a baby into a car seat. Then she climbed back into her part of the car, started it up, and headed down Versaille.
“Does she know?” Todd began, “that it’s a dead end.”
A few seconds later, the little old hatchback came speeding back up toward Dorr, and Fenn said: “I think she does now.”


“All right, so that’s a wrap,” Guy said as Noah turned off the camera. “Or should I say… a wrap? You know, like Christmas wrapping.”
No one laughed at the pun except Noah. Danasia stuck her head in the large bedroom as Noah was pulling his clothes off.
“Oh,” he said, “I’m not doing a movie. That’s not till next year. We’re just doing a little Merry Christmas thing.”
Unashamed before Danasia, Noah stripped down to a red G-string and put a Santa cap on his head. There were the other ones; Brock and David, some of the twins, all naked or in red thongs or G-strings with Santa caps and Guy said, “All right! On the bed with big smiles on your faces!”
They all piled on, and then Guy turned on the camera and said: “All right, Noah!”
And Noah, smiling brightly, said, “From our home to your home Guy’s Rude Boys wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!”
Then they all chorused: “Happy Holidays!”
Guy shut the camera off and said. “I’ll have that on the Net in a minute. That’s a real wrap. Take your asses home.”
As they rolled off of the bed and Noah, removing his cap, began to get dressed again, Danasia said, “And yawl shot a Christmas porn?”
“I shot it. Didn’t star in it,” Noah said, buttoning the first long sleeve shirt she’d ever seen him in. “The Night Before Christmas. Didn’t even change the name.”
“I bet you sure in the hell changed the night, though.”
“Yeah. For starters Santa was buff as hell, and he wasn’t riding eight reindeer, he was riding four sets of twins. And when I say riding…”
“I can imagine,” Danasia said. “I love you Noah,” she told him as they headed out of the room, “but celebrating the Lord’s birthday with a porno is fucked up.”
“Relax. It was Santa Claus, not the Nativity. Plus, this one studio already did a porno Passion.”
Danasia couldn’t deny what Noah did scared her sometimes.
“Goddamn,” Danasia said. “Sometimes I wonder if we don’t go to far.”
By we she meant, him.
“You and me both,” Noah said.
“Who?” Danasia stopped as they crossed the large white room to the front door, “is that fine brother at the door? And I don’t go in for redbones, usually.”
“Huh?” Noah said. He turned his head and lost his voice.
He was standing there, almost pretty. Lighter than Danasia’s color, lighter than most of the Houghtons. He was about Julian’s height in a blue car coat with a scarf hanging from his neck. In short he looked refined and like he absolutely did not belong here. But he saw Noah the same time Noah saw him, and his face lit up.
“You!” Noah croaked hardly audible. He stopped himself from doing what he wanted, which was to run and hide.
But the other young man ran across the room, embraced him and said: “Noah, I’ve been looking for you all morning.”
Noah looked mortified, and the young man said: “I know it’s been awhile. If you’re not happy to see me…”
“No,” Noah said moving him closer to the front door. His face was white. He looked a little sick. Danasia moved with them.
“I am, James. It’s just that… Not here. You shouldn’t be here.
“This…” Noah remembered himself, “is Danny. I mean, Danasia.”
“Pleased to meet you,” she said, still mystified.”
“And this is James Lewis,” Noah added. “And now we all have to get out of here. Now.”
“You’re damn right we do,” James aid, pushing the door of Guy’s mansion open, and seeming not to notice Noah’s nerves. “I’m here because of you.”
“Me?” Noah said, as they walked to the car in the driveway, and Danasia said, “Noah?”
“Yeah,” James said. “I’ll take my car and follow you all.”
As James went to his car, Noah called out his name.
“Oh, yeah,” James remembered. “You were supposed to come up to my place two Christmases ago, you son of a bitch. Well, I couldn’t wait for you. I’m here, now. Now, come on!”
James got in his car and started the engine while Noah stood there white and shocked, his jacket hanging from his hands.
“Well, you heard him,” Danasia said. “Com’on.”

“I can’t wait till she gets home,” Tom said. “This’ll be the perfect gift.”
“I can wait till she gets home. And she’s my daughter,” said Lee. “I don’t know why in the hell you’d be eager to give away a hundred thousand dollars of our money.”
“To be correct it’s one hundred fifty thousand dollars,” Tom said.
“Um… yeah,” said Lee. “Exactly.”
“Oh, com’on,” Tom said. “It’s Christmas.”
“And I’m gonna give that ho ho ho a good talking to—”
“And what’s the point in having all this money if we just sit on it? Stingy? No. This’ll help her out. And maybe we’ll be a family.”
Lee looked at him.
“What?”
“You mean you me and Danasia?”
“Yes? Or is that strange to you?”
“Our whole life is strange,” Lee said, shrugging. There was an urgent thumping at the door.
“I’ll get it,” they said together. But it was Lee who was closest, and Lee who answered.
The frazzled woman with the baby stood before Lee and declared: “You’re not Tom Mesda.”
“No,” said Lee. “Not in any way, shape or form.”
“You can’t be Tom Mesda,” she declared, holding the baby out.
“But you do look like that one man I spoke to.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I was just at his house,” she said. “He told me Tom Mesda was here.”
“Tom!” Lee shouted back. “It’s a crazy white woman looking for you. She was just over at Fenn’s and he sent her here.”
Looking back at the curly haired woman he said, “And I can’t blame him.”
Tom came to the door and gave the woman his usual smile.
“I’m Tom Mesda.”
“Did you ever sell your sperm?”
“What?”
“You’re Thomas Mesda, aged thirty-eight?”
“Yes.”
“With a doctorate in musicology? Owner of the Little Theatre…?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Then you sold your sperm to me,” the woman said, dumping the baby in his arms. “And this is yours. And I don’t want it anymore. Thank you, goodbye.”
And then just like that she was down the hall.
“Tom,” Lee smacked him on the back of the head while the baby mewled.
“Go get that bitch.”

 

[CharmedFan28]

An interesting turn of events! This James who knows Noah seems to like him a lot! I wonder if there is something there? So Tom got the baby he wanted just not in the way he thought he would. I am curious to read what happens next! Great writing and I look forward to more!

 

[ChrisGibson]

As I was posting tonight, I realized that this is the last chapter, so a lot is about to wrap up in the next few nights. More surprises tomorrow.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

THE MARVEL OF MY LIFE CONTINUED


But they had to figure out who would hold the baby while they rode in the car, and then Tom decided the baby needed a car seat, and there was no car seat. So Lee would have to stay home. Meanwhile Tom was looking for his coat and keys and Lee was telling him, as he left, “Well, it’s too late now. I’m sure she’s gone.”
Tom came out of the complex and drove around for a while, wondering how he would know what car had the woman he had seen for all of five seconds, who had dropped a baby off to him. And then, because he didn’t know what else to do, he got on Birmingham, hit Dorr and drove north till he got to Versailles.
He came into the house just as Adele and Simon were arriving with a bag of groceries and Adele said, “Everyone out of the kitchen. You too, Tom. I need my space while I cook.”
And then she looked at Simon.
“Does that mean me?”
“Of course it means you.”
“I can give up a lot,” Todd was saying as they left the kitchen. “But I won’t give up Christmas.”
“Todd?”
“Hey, Tom. Take your coat off,” Todd reached for it.
“Not just yet. Where’s Fenn?”
“Fenn!” Tom bellowed up the stairs.
A moment later Fenn came down the stairs, ribbons and rolls of paper hanging from his arms.
“I gotta talk to you. The weirdest thing just happened?”
“That woman?” Fenn said.
“Yeah!” Tom said. “Oh, she came here first.”
Fenn lowered the rolls of paper to the stairs and came down, head cocked.
“Yeah,” he said, “she did.”
“She’s gone now.”
“Her and that poor baby,” Fenn said. “She shouldn’t have that child.”
“Well, she doesn’t,” Tom said.
“What!”
“She left it with me. It’s with Lee.”
“What the he—?”
“She said… It was mine. She said I gave my sperm to her.”
“That’s crazy!”
“I know. She knew everything about me, and she said that I had given her my sperm and this was my baby.”
“That is…” Fenn said in a quieter voice, “just… nuts.”
And then he said, “I’ll be right back. I need to… I have something for Lee. Just wait right there.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Tom.
“No! I mean, no. I mean… Todd!”
Todd poked his head in the kitchen where Adele was saying: “I just told you to get out!”
“Todd,” Fenn said in a quieter voice, “I need to talk to you.”
Todd nodded and followed Fenn up the stairs. Tom watched them from the base, curious, but respectfully keeping his distance. Todd followed Fenn to their bedroom and Fenn said: “Do you remember when I told you about that woman with the baby?”
“Yeah. The crazy one you sent to Lee and Tom’s.”
“Right. Well, she dropped the baby off and told Tom it was his, and then left.”
“That’s nuts! That’s the nuttiest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“But not the nuttiest you will hear,” Fenn said.
When Todd looked at him, Fenn said, “Oh, shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.”
“Fennnnn,” Todd said, touching his shoulder.
“She said the baby was Tom’s,” Fenn said. “She said that Tom had donated his sperm, and this was his kid and she didn’t want it so here, have it.”
“But that’s not even possible. I mean, unless Tom donated his sperm—”
“He didn’t. He wouldn’t.”
“Well, then it’s not his baby.”
Fenn caught Todd’s face in a desperate grip, and shaking his lover he said:
“Yes, Todd. It is!”

“Where is Danny?” Lee said when he and Tom came into the party, Tom with the sleeping baby.
“With Noah,” Naomi said.
“But where is that?” Lee began, as he took the baby from Tom.
“What is that?” Paul said, approaching.
“Uh… Tom’s baby.”
“What?”
“Oooh, there’s a priest,” Lee said. “Maybe we can get him baptized.”
“Or cast in a porno,” Naomi said.
Lee looked at her.
“Naomi!” Paul said.
“Ooops,” she put a finger to her lips. “We’re not talking about THAT.”
And she moved away with a chip in her hand.
“This is some party,” Kirk said.
“We try,” Todd’s voice came from behind Paul. “Booze is in the fridge. I think Fenn wants everyone to go to midnight Mass drunk.”
Todd mixed into the rest of the crowd and Kirk said, “Dad made a decision. We’re going to sell one of the car lots.”
Paul refrained from saying “Aww,” or anything else truly stupid.
“And what’s more, it’s mine that’s going to be sold.”
“Kirk!”
“No, everyone’s agreed that I can work with my sister or my brother. Turn it into a partnership.”
“But you don’t want that,” Paul guessed.
“I didn’t want to have a car lot on my hands. By myself. I’m sick of cars,” said Kirk.
He fidgeted with the drink in his hand.
“Now I just need to get up and find a dream or something.”
“Paul,” Claire interrupted them. “Dena sent me to find more of the punch glasses.”
“They’re in the kitchen. Top cupboard over the sink,” Paul said.
Claire patted him on the shoulder, winked at Kirk and then nearly bumped into Keith McDonald.
“Sorry, Father.”
“No matter. I just would like to talk,” he gestured to Paul, “with your brother for a moment.”
Claire shrugged, moved away. Kirk shrugged and said, “I’ll get some punch.”
Paul approached Keith and the smile instantly fell from the priest’s face.
“Now you know who I am and I know who you are,” the priest said, tightly. “And if you and Noah think about running off at the mouth about it, I swear I’ll make you pay.”
Paul blinked at him, startled.
“The past,” Keith said flatly, “is the past.”
With that he turned and left, heading back into the crowd.
“What was that all about?” Kirk said when he returned.
Dazed, Paul took the drink and said, “Fucked. Fucked, fucked if I know.”

 

[CharmedFan28]

Interesting developments with the baby. A lot of drama, I hope they can find the mother. Great writing and as usual I am greatly looking forward to the next part.

 

[ChrisGibson]

Two more parts, and then we're done. What are you looking forward to?